Welcome! Welcome to cycle 20 of America’s Next Top Model on The CW! I’m a big fan of this show, having watched a full cycle marathon many a time back in college. For the first time in the show’s history, we’re being treated with both guys and girls, woah! The 35 finalists are to be whittled down to sixteen finalists. By the end of the first hour, it’s 26. I’m really happy with all of the cuts in this episode, because a lot of the people were really dull.

The first challenge is walking the runway in an underwear masquerade ball. The models walk down in pairs, pose, kiss one another, and walk back.One of the dudes, Cory, grabbed another dude for the runway walk, which probably landed him a spot on the show. One girl didn’t do the kiss at all, which I’m sure won’t have her faring well.

As a side note, three possible contestants from my home state of New Jersey! That is pretty exciting, so I hope they get into the show.

Next up in the show is Interview Day on ANTM. We get to learn a bit about the models on the show. Maybe sometimes a little bit too much. For example, Jeremy is a super Christian dude who is proud of never having had sex. Phil is a burly chest hair dude, but kind of a weird hipster and a little transphobic about one of the other possible contestants. Marvin was really poor and Tyra made him proudly shout “My dad’s a janitor!” which was incredibly awkward. Mike was working on an ice cream truck and had never modeled before when Tyra found him. Jourdan thinks her life is so hard because she got married and divorced at age 18 but damn girl, you chose that life. Chris H. is from New Jersey, and his sob story is that he was homeless a few times. Kanani, age 19 from Chicago, is poor and has a young daughter.

Cory is my personal favorite, a 22-year-old gay dude from Philly. He’s the one who grabbed another dude during the runway walk, and he reveals in his interview that bullies used to mock him by calling him “Tyra”. Tyra gets up and goes over to dance with him, showing those bullies that it’s not an insult to be compared to Tyra Banks.

This was a great intro episode to the new season, made better by the follow-up airing immediately after. I’m excited for the rest of the show! Watch the preview below and join the conversation in the comments!